Although TennCare Director Darin Gordon blamed a federal website for the hurdles Tennesseans face applying for Medicaid, the agency will take some correction actions demanded by a federal official.

The state agency will enable hospitals to temporarily enroll pregnant women in Medicaid. It will take actions to keep newborns and children who qualify for coverage from falling through the cracks. And TennCare will hire a consulting firm to analyze the problems with its behind-schedule $35.7 million computer system.

However, it will not provide face-to-face help for people trying to apply for coverage through the state Medicaid system and will, instead, continue sending people to the federal Health Insurance Marketplace to do that.

Cindy Mann, the federal director of Medicaid programs, had given TennCare 10 business days to respond to the concerns in a June 27 letter. She put TennCare on notice that it had failed to provide services for people as required by federal law.

The computer system is the crux of the problems, but Mann noted that Tennessee had stopped providing people with face-to-face help in applying for Medicaid and had no systems for hospitals to temporarily enroll pregnant women who probably qualify for coverage.

Gordon included paragraphs to "correct several mistaken assertions" in Mann's letter.

"The larger point that I want to make is that the state has not only shouldered its own responsibilities, but also has devoted substantial resources to mitigating problems arising from the federal marketplace flaws," Gordon wrote. "We will continue to do so — but in a way that makes sense for those we serve."

He contends that the state does provide direct application assistance in every county by having self-service computer kiosks and people who meet the federal criteria to counsel people on enrolling at healthcare.gov. However, Mann said in her letter that the state should do more.

The state is closer to coming to an agreement with Mann on coverage for pregnant women and children. Gordon held a conference call with federal Medicaid officials on Monday to work out those details.

A mother of two children with asthma, who learned that her children qualified for TennCare when she and her husband bought insurance for themselves on healthcare.gov after having struggled to pay $600 monthly premiums, does not think the federal website is to blame.

"This is not the Marketplace, because the second they put us in the system, they sent it to BlueCross and it was done," said Donna Huggins of Burns.

However, it took six months and the assistance of the nonprofit legal firm Tennessee Justice Center to get her children enrolled in TennCare. She could get no help from any state official, she said, which made her angry.

"The letter, in both tone and substance, shows a failure to recognize the seriousness of the harm being suffered by Tennesseans of all ages due to the state's dysfunction and poor judgment," said Michele Johnson, executive director of Tennessee Justice Center.

"We continue to review the letter carefully, but also continue to believe TennCare cannot truly reform itself without acknowledging the mistakes it is responsible for, which it continues to refuse to do."